You certainly have been in a situation where you made up different excuses to avoid cleaning the clutter in your home.
People have an amazing ability to store, hide and forget different things. And although your house might be spacious enough to hold all of those things cluttering can certainly affect the way you feel in your home.
Cluttering has an effect on your mental health. Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter explains that messy work places and messy homes give us a feeling of anxiousness, helplessness, and make us feel overwhelmed. However, this condition is not often recognized as stress.
Cluttering causes anxiety and depression, especially in women. According to a 2009 study in SAGE, 60 dual-income spouses were followed and their choice of language was analyzed while there were giving a tour of their home. The language of the group allowed researchers to dived them into 2 types which described a stressful home or a restorative home. Unlike the women who used “restorative language”, those who used “stressful language” were in a more depressed mood as days went by.
According to different researches, there’s a link between unhappy verbal characterizations of different household possessions, as well as higher stress levels as measured by the levels of cortisol in the mothers who participated in the study.
Since we deal daily with clutter, we would like to invite you to a 30-day de-clutter challenge which will help you say goodbye to stress and anxiety and will help you lead a happy calm life, have a clean home and experience your new reality.
Below, we present you with some guidance on how to deal which day of the de-clutter challenge.
1. Empty out your junk drawer
Choose one and start cleaning it. Take out the old flyers and bills, golf balls, garbage wrappers and dried out elastic bands and get rid of them! Always remember that if you haven’t used something for three months, you probably won’t be using it ever (this applies to little trinkets).
2. Clean your closet of the things you don’t wear
Go to your local thrift shop and give out the clothes you don’t wear.
3. Review your movie collection
Make sure you keep your favorites, but don’t fool yourself that they all should stay. You can donate them, or leave them to the local landfill. It’s highly probable that you already forgot some of them existed, plus with Netflix who needs DVDs and VHS tapes.
4. Clean your TV stand
Remove all cables that you don’t use anymore and you will have a better time relaxing in front of the TV. There will be no more of those messy cables to stare at you.
5. Check your mail pile
Remove flyers and newspapers and use them for a fireplace, or just recycle them. If you have pending bills, just pay them and throw them away. An even smarter option is to opt for electronic billing which will make things easier and keep your mailbox clean.
6. Clean your kitchen table
Remove items such as dirty dishes, homework and extra sheets of paper. Make sure you have a clean table before placing meals on it. Your clean kitchen table will give you the quality family time, you’ve always wanted.
7. Clean at least two kitchen cabinets
I’m sure you don’t use all of the dishes you own. Try to donate a set of plates and re-gift the mugs you never use. With less dishes, you will save time on washing.
8. Discard old books
Organize a yard sale and give away all the extra books you have lying at home and never use. Someone will be happy to get one, or ten!
9. Clean out your wallet
You can do this right now. Get your wallet and empty it completely. Remove all empty gift cards, old receipts, creased business cards and any other junk you’ve managed to put in there.
10. Clean out your purse
Empty out your purse and get rid of all the garbage and old items you’ve stored there. Put back the essentials such as your wallet, small makeup back, a pen and some tissues. There’s no need to carry more than the necessary items.
11. Clean your makeup drawer/bag
Follow advice number 10 and categorize your lipsticks, eyeliners, etc. and just keep the ones you use.
12. Throw away your empty containers in the shower
Make sure you get rid of all the empty containers you have lying around in your shower.
13. Clean your bathroom cabinets
You will be surprised of all the things you can find in your cabinets. Clean your cabinets and remove all the empty toothpaste tubes, expired mouthwash and other things you find!
14 Go through your shoe closet
If you find shoes that don’t fit, or you don’t wear anymore just throw them away, or donate them to a thrift shop, or to one of your friends.
15. Clean more kitchen cabinets
16. Organize your linens
Revisit your linen closet and remove everything which might be old and not usable. Use your old blankets for your backyard fall sessions, or simply donate them.
17. Clean your medicine cabinet
You need to get rid of old, or expired medicine from your cabinet. Throw away everything in the garbage and in the future try to swap them with more natural supplements.
18. Remove old items from your freezer
Check all expiry dates and remove the food which is old. If you have good food in your fridge, make sure you skip your shopping trip and eat whatever is in there.
19. Clear off your kitchen counters
Remove crusty plates, dirty glasses and last week food. There’s nothing better than a clean kitchen.
20. Clean another junk drawer
21. Clean your fridge and remove old items regularly
22. Clean more kitchen cabinets
23 Get rid of unused accessories
You most probably have old accessories lying around which you don’t use anymore. Try to remove them, or donate them.
24. Clean your car
Get your vacuum cleaner and start your car makeover. Throw away all empty bottles, old tissues, receipts and any other things you might find which are of no use.
25. Remove toys your kids don’t use anymore
If you have kids or grandkids, you most certainly have some old toys they don’t play with anymore. Put them all in a box and donate them to a kids who might use them.
26. Organize the toys that are left
27. Sort your board games and electronic games
Make sure you always keep your board and electronic games tidy and donate the ones you don’t use.
28. Organize and discard your cleaning supplies
Remove all toxic cleaners and start using more natural alternatives. This will help you create a cleaner home.
29. Clean more kitchen cabinets
30. Start cleaning
Once your home is purged of all the unnecessary items, it is time to start cleaning!
